1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sub-unit for use within conventional heart rate monitors where the sub-unit receives pre-existing output signals from the heart rate monitor to permit a user to construct a personal heart rate curve for walking or running in order to forecast personal caloric expenditure on the basis of the user's heart rate while walking or running. The present invention also relates to a process for using the sub-unit to forecast personal caloric expenditure on the basis of the user's heart rate while walking or running.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
People who exercise and diet to lose weight and achieve a particular level of fitness have not had an accurate means of monitoring their progress, except by using exercise machines such as computerized treadmills. The present invention enables; people to use a heart rate monitor to measure their progress while exercising by walking or running.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,511,097, issued on May 12, 1970 to Gilbert Corwin discloses an exercise bicycle which tells the user how many calories he or she is burning while pedalling. Mechanical energy from pedalling is transformed into output electrical signals using an attached generator. The instant invention may be distinguished in that it involves walking and running. It further may be distinguished in that it uses output signals from a heart rate monitor to forecast calories burned.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,195, issued on Oct. 23, 1973, to Keene Paul Dimick, discloses a programmed bicycle exerciser which automatically varies user load at the pedals and displays user mechanical energy burned and heart rate. The instant invention involves running and walking, rather than bicycling, and forecasts human energy burned based on a predetermined relationship between calories and an individual's heart rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,666 issued on Oct. 5, 1976, Benjamin Barron discloses an exercise device which measured variable mechanical energy output from an exercising human and calculates calories expended using analog circuitry. The instant invention does not directly convert mechanical energy output to calories consumed by a human but rather forecasts human energy consumption directly using predetermined human walking and running equations and related individual heart rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,071, issued on Jul. 18, 1978, and U.S Pat. No. 4,159,416, issued on Jun. 26, 1979, both to Carl Brejnik and William T. Whitlow, disclose an electronic calorie counter, to be worn as a wrist watch, which includes a heart pulse detector and microcomputer, and displays time, pulse rate and calorie totals using a pre-constructed relationship between the user's heart rate and calories burned across the individual's entire heart rate range. The instant invention is distinguishable in that it constructs the individual's relationship between calories burned and heart rate for walking and running only, across a more restricted heart rate range.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,000, issued on Mar. 4, 1980 to Elmer M. Lipsey, discloses an electronic calorie counter which uses a vertical motion accelerator's output signals to forecast calories burned using sedentary, light, moderate, vigorous and severe human activity coefficients. The instant invention differs from Lipsey by forecasting walking and running calories using predetermined human energy equations and individual heart rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,105 issued on Nov. 9, 1982, to James S. Sweeney Jr. converts mechanical energy output to calories burned using a stationary cycle, assuming the energy output efficiency of the human operator is 20%, and is distinguishable from the instant invention in that no such conversion is made and the activity involves running and walking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,752, issued on Jan. 11, 1983, to Oscar Jiminez and Frank J. Bianco discloses a device combining heart rate monitor, pedometer and various predetermined constants and fitness factors. Calories for walking or jogging are forecast by using the exercising heart rate scaled against the resting heart rate. The fitness factors are derived from tables after the individual takes a 12 minute maximum aerobic capacity test. The instant invention is distinguishable in that it uses running and walking speeds with a pre-existing heart rate monitor to construct a direct relationship between the individual's running and walking calories and heart rate without the need for fitness factors or heart rate scaling. The individual does not take a maximum aerobic capacity test which is dangerous and except for the very fit should be conducted under medical supervision. The instant invention is suitable for use by persons at all fitness levels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,802 issued on Apr. 19, 1983 to Richard B. Segar and Lewis C. Marascalco, discloses an electronic calorie counter, in which data about foods eaten and exercises performed is inputted by the user, and the device outputs an estimate of the difference between the calories gained from the food and lost from exercise. The instant invention is distinguished from the present invention in that monitoring the user's heart rate is used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,801 (a CIP of the '752 patent discussed supra), issued on Mar. 6, 1984 to Oscar Jiminez and Frank J. Bianco, discloses an apparatus for testing the physical condition of a self propelled vehicle rider which includes monitoring the rider's heart rate and speed. The instant invention does not involve cycling, only running and walking.
U.S. Pat. Mo. 4,457,310, issued on Jul. 3, 1984 to Paul R. Swyer, Tibor Heim, and John M. Smith discloses a method and apparatus for determining the energy requirements of newborns, based on their heart rates. They use a predetermined heart rate-energy consumption relationship for newborns all with similar weights and fitness levels, resting in a hospital ward. The instant invention determines the individual heart rate-energy relationship of individual adults who have varying degrees of weight and fitness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,461 issued on Jan. 28, 1986, Michael Lubell and Stephen Marks, discloses a device used in running and cycling whereby the exercising heart rate is monitored and then linearly scaled between the subjects resting and maximum heart rate to estimate calories. A maximum aerobic capacity test is required at maximum heart rate to forecast calories which except for the very fit should be conducted under medical supervision. The instant invention is distinguished by not requiring a maximum aerobic capacity test and by not using a linear extrapolation between resting and maximal heart rate. The instant invention moreover limits calorie forecast to a narrower heart rate range comprising 55% to 90% of the subject's maximum heart rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,942 issued on Aug. 8, 1989, to Frank J. Bianco discloses a microcomputer enclosed in a watch case which estimates calories consumed by the wearer by measuring the motion of the wearer. It is distinguishable from the instant invention as it does not involve monitoring the wearer's heart rate.
European Pat. Application Publication No. 0 119 009 published Sep. 19, 1984, for an invention by Edward C. Frederick, discloses a device for determining the speed, distance traversed, time and calories expended by a runner. It consists of a pressure sensor in the runner's shoe, which sends a radio signal received by a device that may be worn around the runner's wrist, such as a watch, which contains a microprocessor. Unlike the instant invention, it does not monitor or determine heart rate.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.